What are “Pain and Suffering” Damages?

What are “Pain and Suffering” Damages?

In cases involving personal injury or death, “pain and suffering” is a category of non-economic recoverable damages. It is separate from economic damages, which include medical bills, lost wages, and other objective expenses incurred by an injury or wrongful death victim. Pain and Suffering Damages include physical pain and the emotional and psychological trauma and discomfort caused by an injury. It includes the wide array of mental and emotional responses that accompany the pain, characterized as suffering, such as anguish, distress, fear, insomnia, anxiety, depression, humiliation, grief, shame, or worry.

Example: The extreme discomfort caused by lying in a hospital bed in a leg traction device with holes punched in one’s limbs is an example the pain and suffering for which damages may be awarded.

If you are injured in an accident, you should get immediate medical attention and document your symptoms and the care you received. Pain and Suffering is an abstract form of damages. It is personal to the injured person and it is difficult to value. Some states even include caps on the amount of damages you can recover for Pain and Suffering.

Insurance companies typically try to downplay or minimize pain and suffering claims. It is difficult, if not impossible, to get an insurance company adjuster to understand the magnitude of a person’s pain and suffering without supporting medical treatment and documentation. Based on our experience as an injury lawyer calls for help in the most serious cases, here are some documents that may help prove the “pain and suffering” aspect of your case:

Witness accounts can also help support a Pain and Suffering claim. For example, the injured person’s credible testimony describing the effects of the injury is extremely valuable, as are the accounts of those close to the victim who have personally observed the effects of the accident on the injured person.

If you are an injury victim and would like to find out if you are entitled to pain and suffering or other compensation for your injury, call the injury lawyer Memphis, TN trusts time after time.

Thanks to our friends and contributors at Wiseman Bray PLLC who have significant experience fighting for injury victims in Tennessee.